


The End

by GrumpySpaceKitten



Series: Stories Inspired By Art [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Episode: s05e04 The End, Inspired by Art, M/M, Minor Character Death, mentioned sabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpySpaceKitten/pseuds/GrumpySpaceKitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dean goes to the End!verse, he's surprised to see a certain archangel who supposedly died. With a future him and Gabriel, they team up to take down Lucifer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End

**Author's Note:**

> More than just End!verse AU, I guess, since Dean doesn't know Gabriel's the Trickster until after that episode but whatevs right? The art isn't mine and because I got it off Google I couldn't find the artist :/ But kudos to them!

Dean ran his hand across his mouth as he stepped outside. This was weird. This was really freaking weird. Not to mention impossible. There was no way Cas had become a human. He couldn’t have. Sam couldn’t have had a showdown with Lucifer and died. Dean never would have let it happen; but then again he’d let Sam go to Detroit alone in the first place. This future was all kinds of whacked up.

 

But the biggest mistake Dean made was thinking it couldn’t get worse. How could it? The world was infected with the Croatoan virus, the future version of himself had been forced to become leader of a ragtag group of survivors when he couldn't even keep himself from being bullied by asshat angels, and Bobby was dead. What else was there? Until….

 

“Hey, Dean-O!”

 

...It got worse.

 

Gabriel marched up to him, all five feet seven inches of him furious, looking like he might pull out some of his heavenly mojo at any minute.  “How do you expect me not to smite people when all these muttonheads keep stealing my stuff! It’s my freaking stuff! Look at this!” He gestured down to how he was in only a red button down and jeans. “One of your peons stole my jacket. I feel naked. And not in a fun way!”

 

It was a long while before the hunter could speak, not just because of Gabriel glaring at him, and “How are you alive?” was all Dean finally managed to get out in his state of shock.

 

“Cute.” the archangel scoffed. “Real cute. I didn’t know we were going back to that one, ‘cause it never gets old, right?”

 

“No, really, how? Lucifer killed you.” Dean whispered.

 

Apparently it was entirely the wrong thing to say. Gabriel grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the grit covered hovel Castiel resided in. “Don’t you say that name, Winchester.” he growled, sounding purely animalistic. “Don’t even think it ever again.”

 

Dean reeled back, suddenly reminded that the shortstop could quite literally kill him with a glare. “Uh, y-yeah, yeah, okay.”

 

He snarled once more and threw the hunter aside. “Talk to your people.” he barked and stormed off.

 

Dean picked himself up off the dirt, rubbing the back of his neck. Human Cas, dead Sam, jerk face him, and now pissy Gabriel. What else did this future have to offer? He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck where it hurt from being thrown around. But he was here for three days, according to Zachariah's rules. Yippee.

 

* * *

 

 Dean was pretty freaking bored around the place until future him revealed that Lucifer hadn’t killed Sam in Detroit. Sam had said “ _yes_ ”. Dean needed a moment after that. He’d let his brother say “yes”? It didn’t click in his mind. But it seemed the hunter wasn’t the only one who needed to step out at the Lucifer talk - Gabriel sitting on the porch with his head in his hands when he came out. Dean frowned and took a couple steps closer to him. “Uh, hey…” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know we’ve never gotten on well, but you okay?”

 

For a second, Gabriel looked like he might snap and whip out some of his heavenly justice as he turned turned to fix his gaze on the blonde, but in the end he just sighed, looking small and broken as he turned his eyes back towards the dirt, Dean taking that as an invitation to sit beside him.

 

“You’re really from the past?” he asked in hushed tones after a while.

 

Dean nodded. “You saw the two of us in the room. He’s from now and I’m from five years ago.”

 

Gabriel processed it all for a moment. “Is this Castiel’s work?”

 

The hunter shook his head. “Zachariah’s.”

 

“That jackbag?” Gabriel groaned. “He’s such a dick. Can’t figure out why he’s so high up in the order. Then again, we’ve got other douchecanoes like Raphael as freaking archangels so I guess it’s not too much of a surprise.”

 

“Yup. Decided he wanted to toy with me for not saying ‘yes’ to Michael.” There was a heavy pause before Dean voiced what they were both thinking: “Sound like someone?”

 

Gabriel turned to look at him with something that might have been meant to be a glare but in the end he just looked sad. “There’s a difference between me and that muttonhead.”

 

“Bull.” Dean scoffed. “You both just use everyone to get what you want.”

 

Once again Gabriel looked like he wanted to be angry but all that was in his eyes was a deep sorrow. “No. Zachariah does, even he’ll admit to that. But I didn’t just screw with you two to make you let Luci and Mikey ride you. There was… More to it.”

 

“More? Because throwing us around into whatever universe you wanted wasn’t enough?”

 

“Do you think I wouldn’t have just killed you in the beginning if I was annoyed with you two?” Gabriel snapped, this time managing to get the fire in his eyes. “Yeah, I would have. I didn’t know who you were at first - didn’t know you two were being saved for the endgame. So, yeah, there was more.”

 

“You keep saying that, but it’s kinda hard to believe without any more than just ‘there was more.’” Dean muttered in a smug tone.

 

“You’re brother and I had a thing, alright?” he finally snapped and the hunter’s face paled. No, that’s not at all what he was expecting. Gabriel sighed and looked back at the ground. “That’s why I got angry when you brought up Lucifer. He practically tortured Sam to get him to say ‘yes’ and during that time I was his comfort.” he sighed again and closed his eyes. “And now he’s gone. No more nights of cuddling and whispering love to each other after sex; no more messy bedhead in the morning to fix as he called me his beautiful angel; no more laughing as we baked. No more Sam. He was more than just another bang to me, another round of sex that I would leave with them wanting more. With him, I wasn’t just a boy who ran away from home. I had a place. I _belonged_. He wanted me - hell, he practically _owned_ me. And I loved it. I loved him. And now it’s gone; now he’s gone. _No more Sam_.” he whispered again with a voice wrecked with emotion and a tear dripped onto the ground. He growled at himself and wiped his face, getting up. “And that’s why I’m coming with you. My boyfriend’s not in there any more. Just a jackass brother who would rather me dead than alive.”

 

“Revenge, then?” Dean asked after a moment and the archangel shook his head. “No, far from it. Vengeance. Vengeance for Sam, who deserved far better than the lot he had.”

 

Dean nodded slowly. “I’d drink to that.”

 

* * *

 

Dean heard Gabriel sigh quietly as Cas went silent. “It’s a shame the world’s come to this…” he whispered to no one in particular.

 

“Yep. Can’t have slow dancing aliens any more.” Dean replied with a bit of venom. He still had every right to be upset with the archangel, but he knew now probably wasn’t the time for that. Though in the rearview mirror he saw Gabriel almost crack a smile. “That was always one of my personal favorites.”

 

It was curious, Dean thought as he watched Gabriel stare longingly out at the desolated earth, the air around him had completely changed. He was still arrogant and self-centered certainly, but he seemed smaller. He wasn’t the archangel Gabriel any more. He was just Gabriel now, grieving lover.

 

Dean tried to make small talk with him but he didn’t seem to notice, so he turned to Cas instead. “What’s up with him? Other than the obvious of course.”

 

Cas gave a lazy shrug with an _I-couldn’t-care-less_ smile. “Sam and Gabe did more than just break the bed, Sam taught him real love for humanity and the Earth. I’ve offered to help him, but he says it would blur his mission and that he had to stay focused for Sam.”

 

Dean nodded and turned back to the window, thinking about nothing and everything.

 

Though they looked out at the same landscape, Gabriel didn’t see the desolate wasteland that they called the Earth going by. He saw himself sitting on Sam’s shoulders as the hunter complained loudly. “Jeez, Gabe, you weigh like a million pounds!”

 

“I’m just helping you build up that muscle mass, strong man!”

 

Gabriel closed his eyes to give himself a moment to hide away the pain, though when he opened again it was not the barren terrain but him and Sam laying on a blanket under the stars. Gabriel loved the stars. They made him feel close to the family he hadn’t seen in millennia. He told Sam about the constellations and the lore. They made love slow that night, smelling like grass and sex when they went home. Gabriel sighed as he watched the scene slowly fade into oblivion.

 

* * *

 

When it was time for the brigade future-Dean had created to roll out, the past version couldn’t help but stop and watch Gabriel as he cocked his rifle. He still had powers, that was obvious as he snapped himself up a lollipop to stuff in his cheek, but he seemed to prefer to do things the human way. The hunter briefly wondered if that was another thing Sam had taught him the novelty of. He was drawn out of his wonderings as the other him announced, “There. Second floor window. We go in there”

 

“Hate to break it to ya, Dean-O, but I’m the only one with wings here.” Gabriel chuckled as he tucked a new mag into his pocket.

 

Dean had to try not to roll his eyes. “I know, but since someone won’t use his magic to get us in there-”

 

“Hey! Last time I tried to bring this many people up there with me, one of you got stuck in a wall!”

 

Older Dean almost spat out a reply but Risa interrupted, “You sure about this?” With not only the question but the timing, it was obvious she knew when she had to step in to prevent a fistfight.

 

“They’ll never see us coming.” he promised and picked up his gun. ‘09 Dean watched him for a moment, something off in the body language he knew so well. The frown Risa wore showed she saw it too, but Dean just looked her dead in the eye, confidence in his own. “Trust me.”

 

After a moment of pause Dean called to himself when it clicked in his brain and the older version told his troops to do one final gear check as the Deans walked a bit away.

 

“Tell me what’s going on.” the younger demanded but the other put on a look of confusion. “What?”

 

“I know you. You’re lying to these people and me.”

 

“That so?”

 

“Yeah, see you’re me. I know your lying expressions. I’ve seen them in the mirror. Now there’s something you’re not telling us.”

 

Croatoan-Dean sighed and looked away for a moment, seeming almost bored. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he finally said as he remade eye contact.

 

“Oh, really? Well, I don’t seem to be the only member of your posse with questions, so, uh, maybe I’ll just take my doubts over to them.” he threatened slowly and made to walk away. It seemed that was what finally broke the other version of himself and he held out a hand to stop him. “Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.”

 

“What?”

 

“Take a look around you, man.” he whispered, gesturing to the surrounding area with his gun. “This place should be white-hot with Crotes. Where are they?”

 

The past-Dean looked around as well as the realization hit him. “They cleared a path for us.” he said slowly. “Which means-”

 

“It’s a trap. Exactly.” Dean finished for himself.

 

“Then we can’t go through the front.” he frowned.

 

“Oh, _we’re_ not. _They_ are.”

 

The Dean of the past just froze as he thought about just what he himself had said.

 

“They’re the decoys. You and me - we’re going through the back.” future Dean told himself in a commanding tone.

 

The younger Dean just had to pause to absorb it all. “You mean you’re going to feed your friends into a meat grinder?” he snarled out slowly. “Cas, too?” - older him looked away, ashamed - “You would use their deaths as a diversion? Oh man, something is broken in you. You’re making decisions I would _never_ make. I wouldn’t sacrifice my friends!”

 

“You’re right. _You_ wouldn’t.” Gabriel growled as he walked up to the identicals. “And that’s one of the main reasons we’re in this mess in the first place.”

 

Dean looked between the second of himself and the archangel. “You knew?” he asked quietly.

 

“Of course I did. You don’t just hide things from the friggin’ angel of the Lord.”

 

“And you let it happen?” he hissed out slowly.

 

Gabriel nodded. “The world is on its last stand. Hard decisions have to be made. The problem is that only a few people are willing to make them.”

 

“These people count on you!” he practically shouted and the other of himself put a hand on his shoulder. “They count on us to kill the devil and save the world. It’s exactly what we’re doing.”

 

“No.” the younger said firmly. “Not like this you won’t.”

 

Dean raised a brow. “Oh, yeah?” he asked but before the reply could come the Dean from the past was knocked out with one hard blow.

 

* * *

 

 

Dean was still on the leaf covered ground when he woke up, his head throbbing from the bruise that would appear in a few hours. He slowly climbed to his feet with a groan and weariness that left him as soon as he heard the sound of an automatic being fired. He ran towards the building, horrified to see the flashing lights of gunfire through the windows. He cursed under his breath and quickly sprinted towards the back. When he saw the graveyard lining the backwall, he immediately noticed the older him unconscious on the ground with a tall man in a white suit holding Gabriel against one of the graves by the collar. “Why aren’t you smiling, Gabriel?” he asked with the smirk on his face obvious in his tone as he fingers caressed the smaller man’s jaw.

 

“Shut up, Lucifer.” the archangel whispered, his eyes firmly on the ground.

 

“You always used to smile….”

 

“Hey!” Dean called with his eyes fixed on the unconscious him and the man turned, his hold on Gabriel never releasing. He knew he should have been expecting it - he had been told in advance and everything - but nothing could prepare him for the almost physical punch in the gut as he saw Sam’s face under the mop of long brown hair. “Oh,” he hummed almost playfully. “Hello, Dean.”

 

Thunder cracked and Dean winced. “Well, aren’t you a surprise.” Lucifer muttered more to himself than his once-brother.

 

The lighting struck again and this time Dean flinched at the thunder that rumbled his eardrums, Lucifer appearing behind him as he stumbled back a little. “Come along to see this, haven’t you?”

 

“Well, go on.” he snapped. He didn't want to hear Lucifer taunting him out of his little brother's mouth. If it was going to happen, might as well happen before the wounds of seeing Sammy there but it not actually being the boy he raised set.

 

He tipped his head to the side. “What?” 

 

“Kill me.”

 

He grinned.  “Kill you? Don’t you think that would be a little...” he paused to find the word. “Redundant?” He stopped again as Dean looked upon him with disgust. “I’m sorry. It must be painful - speaking to me in this… shape. But it had to be your brother. It had to be.” He reached out to touch the hunter’s shoulder but Dean shied away, taking a brief moment to notice Gabriel just staring at the man who had once been his lover, unable to do more.

 

Lucifer looked a little upset at the pull away but sighed. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Dean. What do you think I’m going to do?” Thunder cracked in the background as he began to pace, tossing a smirk Gabe’s way.

 

“I don’t know, maybe deep-fry the planet?” Dean hummed in a growl.

 

The angel in Sam’s form turned away from the rose he had come to admire to look at the man. “Why? Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing; beautiful in a trillion different ways.”

 

“Shut up!” Gabriel screamed, the anger and depression and loss he had bridled so well for so many years now loose. It was too much. Sam had showed him how beautiful the Earth really was and now his brother, wearing his lover as easily as if he were a replaceable tie, repeated them. “Stop lying! You want nothing more than to see this all burn!”

 

“The last perfect handiwork of God?” he frowned which earned him a growl from the archangel. He gave a weary sigh accompanied by a flick of his wrist. “Please, hush, little brother. The adults are talking.” Gabriel tried to shoot back a retort but found himself unable to speak as Lucifer returned his gaze to Dean. “Ever hear the story of how I fell from Grace?”

 

Once again, Gabriel tried to shout, to scream, _anything_. Anything to wake up the small bit of Sam’s consciousness left in the unnaturally tall body but was met with nothing. Thankfully Dean took over for him: “Oh, jeez, you’re not going to tell me a bedtime story, are you? My stomach’s almost out of bile.”

 

Lucifer gave him a look between annoyed and blank before he carried on. “You know why God cast me down?” He gave Dean a moment but received no answer from the hunter. “Because I loved Him. More than anything.” The emotion in his voice made Dean almost want to believe him, but this was Lucifer, master of lies and deceit. He held his tongue again. Gabriel was disposed for various reasons at the moment and he was an ant next to the Devil. Better not anger him, is what he finally decided. “And then God created…” he let out an almost bitter chuckle. “You. The little hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before _you_ \- to love you more than _Him_. And I told him, ‘Father, I can’t.’ I said, ‘These human beings are _flawed_ , murderous.’ And for that, God had Michael cast me into Hell. Now tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially when I was right.” he finished in a harder tone. “Look what six billion of you have done to this thing. And how many of you blame _me_ for it?”

 

Dean barely even flinched at the lightning strikes that came as Lucifer spoke. “You’re not fooling me, you know that? With this sympathy-for-the-Devil crap. I know what you are.”

 

Lucifer frowned with Sam’s face. “What am I?”

 

“You’re the same thing, only bigger.” Dean choked out. He was saying this to his brother. But he had to. He couldn’t let Satan play with his mind. “The same brand of cockroach I’ve been squashing my whole life - an ugly, evil, belly-to-the-ground, supernatural piece of crap. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego.” he ground out in a damn near triumphant voice. The victory was short-lived though as a smile tugged at Lucifer’s lips and he looked at him with an obvious ‘aw-you’re-so-cute’ expression. “I like you, Dean.” he murmured. “I get what the other angels see in you. Goodbye. We’ll meet again soon.”

 

Despite the dismissal as the Devil turned and began to walk away, Dean wasn’t having it. “You better kill me now!” he shouted and Lucifer faced him once more with a questioning look. “You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won’t stop.”

 

“I know you won’t.” Lucifer said, his theme of speaking to Dean as if he were a mentally slow child continuing on. “I know you won’t say ‘yes’ to Michael, either. And I know you won’t kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up... here." Sam gestured around at the graveyard and smiled. "I win.” Dean ignored the tear that slipped down his cheek, denied that deep in his mind he knew it was true. They couldn’t change it. They were powerless, always had been and always would be. This was bigger than just two brothers. This was the entire world. And no matter what efforts the Winchesters put into it, they could never change how the world would end. “So, I win.”

 

That seemed to be entirely the wrong thing to say though as it snapped Gabriel out of his endless despair of loss. He tackled Lucifer to the ground and threw punches for all he was worth. “You’re wrong! He’ll stop this!” He cast a hopeful glance at Dean then shook his head. “And if he doesn’t, I will.” he growled lowly. “I will get you out of Sam, and once I do I will torture you until killing you is a tender mercy; until you beg for a chance to love humans!”

 

It all happened too fast for Dean to register, but soon Gabriel was on his back on the ground after receiving a hard kick in the abdomen when Lucifer drew his legs up for the strike. The Devil stood up and calmly brushed himself off, then wiped blood from his mouth and nose. He looked at Gabriel, his expression so nauseated that if Dean didn’t see him looking at his own brother right then he would have thought he was staring at a partially decomposed carcass. “I wanted so much better for you, brother.” he whispered, then turned to Dean. “See you in five years.” he smiled and disappeared with another thunder clap.

 

Dean stared brokenly at the space before he shook himself to get out of his mind and helped Gabriel to his feet, both pointedly ignoring Sam’s blood on his hands. But at the same time of trying not to notice the scarlet, he saw a glint of silver and blue on Gabriel’s left ring finger. He drew his hand back like he’d been burnt. “You and Sam were married?”

 

Gabriel shook his head sadly, his own tears shining bright in his eyes. “Engaged. I was the first person since Jessica he knew he wouldn’t have to worry about, the first person who could protect himself. Too bad Sam couldn’t.” he whispered and had to break off there to keep the tears from spilling out as he heard Sam’s voice ring clear in his head, “ _I love you, Gabriel. Stay by me forever. Please. Forever.”_

 

The archangel screwed his eyes shut. He would have stayed with that man until the ends of the Earth. “I love you too, Sam. Now and for always.” he breathed quietly into the air.

 

Dean watched him twist the ring with his own eyes wet. “I’ll stop this, I promise.”

 

“You better.”

  
The hunter nodded and went to turn to lead him back to the car, thoughts too focused on Lucifer/Sam to remember that everyone else would be dead, but when he did, Zachariah put two fingers on his brow and both disappeared, leaving the broken archangel staring at the spot as the future version of the man who just evaporated stirred into consciousness. “You better…” he repeated softly.


End file.
